Stay
by murmelinchen
Summary: He was the last one to stay. He had always been the last one. Because up until two weeks ago, they would cuddle up in bed together after their friends had left from a long poker night.


He was the last one to stay. He had always been the last one. Because up until two weeks ago, they would cuddle up in bed together after their friends had left from a long poker night.

But they would not do that tonight. They had broken up.

She had been the one to end their relationship. He had wanted to fight for it. Yet, she refused to let him and had made him move out as quick as possible.

And still, now he was the last one to linger after their monthly get-together. At first she had not been so sure about whether she would want him to be there. But her friends had insisted and reluctantly, she had invited him as well.

To her surprise it went better than she had imagined. She had thought that he would make snide remarks and ruin this night. But it did not happen - all conversations were aimed at their friends. Even though, he tried to catch her eye here and there, he never forced her to go any further when she avoided him.

Now that they were sitting at the table alone - him reluctant to leave just yet, her picking at her nails - she could not quite shake the feeling that they needed to talk one more time.

Turning to look at him, she smiled but it was obvious that it was forced. So, when he tried to smile back, she could not help cringing at how sad it made him look.

She sighed and got up eventually. Setting to clean up the table, she did not dare meet his eyes when she quietly asked him, "Will it ever be normal again?"

He sighed and got up to help her collecting all the poker cards from the table. Nonchalantly he got closer to her side while picking up the cards. When he still had not answered, she looked up at him. She blushed when she noticed that he was watching her sideways. His eyes flickered across her face and looked away quickly as if she had caught him doing something wrong.

"I tried tonight," he eventually murmured. Without another word, he picked up the cards from in front of her and put them together in a neat stack. Working quietly and not saying anything.

"There really was never anything between him and me," she quickly said as he moved to walk around the table to pick up the rest of the cards. She reached up to touch his arm but hovered in the air as he came to an abrupt stop. He did not turn around, fumbling with the stack of cards in his hands and she could feel the change of atmosphere. He had always gotten mad at her whenever she mentioned him, shouting at her; he never harmed her in any way but due to his quick temper he had gotten loud, demanding her to never see him again. The friendship to another man and his absurd attitude towards it was what had made her break up with him in the end.

And yet she wanted him back with all of her heart.

She relaxed somewhat when she saw his shoulders sag and he bobbed his head slowly in a nod. He looked over his shoulder without meeting her eyes, "I know."

When he made a move to walk around the table again, she finally grabbed onto his arm, preventing him from moving away.

"Wait," she exclaimed and felt her hand tremble. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "You know, I didn't break up with you because I didn't love you, right?"

He turned around to face her but looked down at his hands, still clutching the cards and playing with them nervously. He tried to remain calm but he ground his teeth and worked his jaws silently.

"I know," he whispered after a moment, still refusing to meet her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she put her hands over his constantly moving ones. He stopped and looked into her eyes when she spoke, "You never had any reason to be jealous of him. He will always be my best friend. And you'll have to accept that if you ever want to be with me again."

The corner of his mouth lifted in a reluctant smile and his nostrils flared for a brief moment, "I'll try."

She took a step forward and reached for his face. With one hand she cupped his cheek, her other hand reached around to cup the back of his neck to draw him down to her. His eyes flickered back and forth between her eyes, his jaw tightening with uncertainty. He swallowed when she tugged him even closer and whispered against his lips, "I still love you."

When she closed the distance between them, the cards dropped to the ground. He sighed in relief and the breath he let out of his nose, caressed her cheek. As soon as their lips met, he wrapped his arms around her and held onto her as if his life depended on her.

His lips molded perfectly against hers, just like she remembered. In fact it was not long ago that he had tried to kiss her one more time when he had moved out. But she had refused him then, feeling like she had every right to be mad at him. Now, she felt overwhelmed at how gentle he was. Brushing his lips over hers, he kissed her hungrily. And she kissed him back passionately, all the pent-up emotions pouring into the kiss.

Hesitantly, he licked her upper lip to ask for permission. Trying to resist him, she kept kissing his bottom lip. Nipping at his lips with her teeth, she chuckled as he tugged her closer by placing his hand between her shoulder blades. Finally being unable to resist him any longer, she flicked her tongue against his and chuckled against his lips as a feral growl escaped him. She had missed him, she had missed him kissing her the way he did now.

When they broke apart to take a breath, he leaned his forehead against hers. Panting, he chuckled and as though he was dreaming and he feared to wake up, he kept his eyes closed. "I'm sorry," he murmured, "It just felt like kissing you for the very first time again."

She smiled and chuckled along with him when he laughed at how cheesy it had sounded. They calmed down quickly however, him rolling his bottom lip between his teeth and her sighing sensually. He opened his eyes to look at her longingly and she took a deep breath, smiling sheepishly.

"Is there a chance you'd come back?"

He leaned back, looking down at her, one corner of his mouth lifting up in a teasing grin.

"Just ask me to stay."

* * *

This is based on a prompt on tumblr by fanficspromptsandfun. The original prompt is: "Is there a chance you'd ever come back?" "Just ask me to stay." What do you think?


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